Featured Quote:"A believer may pass through much affliction, and yet secure very little blessing from it all. Abiding in Christ is the secret of securing all that the Father meant the chastisement to bring us." - Andrew Murray

[i](*Warning: What follows is incredibly horrific. Can only plead for some serious contemplation on a number of fronts. In whatever the response's, please, pray, first. Secondly, might this make us all realize the seriousness of the day, the soberness of many an item that troubles us in light of this. Might it challenge our perspective on our often narrow confines, commentary, opinion and easy 'prophecies'. Lastly might this break our hearts into a true intercession, unlike we may have ever had before.)[/i]

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A Heart for Africa

[u]Deliver Us from Kony[/u][i]Why the children of Uganda are killing one another in the name of the Lord.[/i]by J. Carter Johnson.

Sixty years after Allied soldiers liberated the Nazi death camps, the world stands silent in the face of another holocaustone so horrifying that U.N. officials call it one of the worst human-rights crises of the past century.

The perpetrators commit atrocities with such malevolence that even the most irreligious people familiar with their acts describe them as unrestrained evil. The targets of the butchery are children. They rape, mutilate, and kill them with a rapaciousness that staggers the imagination. Worse, they compel children to kill one another and their own families, fighting as soldiers in an armed force deliberately composed of children.

Perhaps the greatest atrocity is teaching these children that they spread this carnage by the power of the Holy Spirit to purify the unrepentant, twisting Christianity into a religion of horror to their victims. It is spiritual warfare at its very worst, and it could not be more satanic.

[u]Religion of Evil[/u]

The Lords Resistance Army (LRA) is one of the larger terrorist organizations in the world. It has killed more people than many other violent groups, yet few Westerners have ever heard of it, since nearly all its violence is perpetrated in the border region between Uganda and Sudan in East Africa.

On a continent plagued with endless guerilla warfare, where war crimes are standard fighting fare, the LRA stands apart as an especially odious group. LRA crimes against humanity are so repulsive that its only former ally, the Islamic government of Sudan, jettisoned its relationship with the LRA to improve Sudans international relations. (Credible sources in Uganda insist Sudan still supplies weapons to the LRA, however.)

What began in 1986 as a rebellion against the Ugandan government has metamorphosed into a military millenarian cult. Its reason for existence is to perpetuate the power of its leader, a ruthless witchcraft practitioner named Joseph Kony.

He claims to be fighting Ugandan president Yoweri Musevenis government on behalf of the ethnic Acholi people, who populate the nations three northernmost districts of Kitgum, Gulu, and Pader. The Acholi have a longstanding grievance with the more prosperous southern Ugandans, much of it rooted in 19th-century British colonial policies that favored southerners in education and business, while relegating the Acholi to army service. However, the LRA attacks the Acholi, the very people they claim to defend, far more often than the Ugandan military.

Kony, 41, envisions an Acholiland ruled by a warped interpretation of the Ten Commandments. He uses passages from the Pentateuch to justify mutilation and murder. He promotes a demonic spirituality crafted from an eclectic mix of Christianity, Islam, and African witchcraft.

Any resemblance to these religions is superficial: While the army observes rituals such as praying the rosary and bowing toward Mecca, there is no prescribed theology in the conventional sense. Konys beliefs are a haphazard mix from the Bible and the Quran, tailored around his wishful thinking, personal desires, and practical needs of the moment. Jesus is the Son of God. But instead of saving the world from sin through his sacrificial love on the Cross, he is a source of power employed for killing those who oppose Kony. The Holy Spirit is not the Divine Comforter, but one who directs Konys tactical military decisions.

Despite dabbling in the Bible and the Quran, Konys real spiritual obsession is witchcraft. He burns toy military vehicles and figurines to predict the course of battles from their burn patterns. He uses reptiles in magic rituals to sicken those who anger him or to detect traitors in his midst. He claims to receive military direction from spirits of dead men from different countries, including Americans. He teaches that an impending apocalypse will usher in The Silent World, where only primitive weapons, such as machetes and clubs, will bring victory.

[u]Brutality, Terror[/u]

Sadly, reports of LRA savagery are not isolated incidents. The children I interviewed in Uganda and southern Sudan who escaped LRA captivity, along with thousands of documented cases, demonstrate that these monstrosities are standard operating procedure. Nearly 90 percent of LRA fighters are enslaved children, kidnapped from their families. [Editors warning: The rest of this section contains graphic descriptions of brutality.]

Under threat of death, LRA child soldiers attack villages, shooting and cutting off peoples lips, ears, hands, feet, or breasts, at times force-feeding the severed body parts to victims families. Some cut open the bellies of pregnant women and tear their babies out. Men and women are gang-raped. As a warning to those who might report them to Ugandan authorities, they bore holes in the lips of victims and padlock them shut. Victims are burned alive or beaten to death with machetes and clubs. The murderous task is considered properly executed only when the victim is mutilated beyond recognition and his or her blood spatters the killers clothing.At St. Josephs Hospital in Kitgum, I listened as relatives of four adult LRA victims recounted recent assaults. Many surviving victims cannot speak for themselves, because their lips have been sliced off. With their mouths reduced to gaping holes, they gazed at me with what combat veterans call the thousand-yard stare.

Many dont survive an attack. In one case, the LRA attacked a 14-year-old boy who suffered compound fractures in both legs when beaten with pangas (large machetes). He crawled for a week to reach the hospital. But, despite the efforts of surgeons from Doctors Without Borders, the teen died the next day. He is buried outside the hospital in a grave marked with two sticks, his name unknown. Since 1986, the LRA is estimated to have abducted as many as 50,000 children. Many more Ugandans have been maimed and traumatized. About 1.6 million have been driven from their homes. The death toll from the conflict is estimated at more than 30,000 children.

During attacks, LRA fighters, themselves traumatized captives, abduct more children and embark on a trek through the African bush that mimics the Bataan Death March in barbarity. Adult commanders force children to carry supplies for up to a week, marching from dawn to dusk on bare feet, without food or water in the equatorial heat. Potable water is reserved for commanders. Children have been forced to drink urine or drink from muddy ditches to survive. Their feet become infected and swollen. Any child who cannot keep pace is killed. Any child caught in an attempted escape is killed. Children may be murdered for crying or failing to obey commands quickly enough. Moreover, it is the other children who must execute the transgressors, which is done by hacking them to pieces with machetes or burning them alive.

Commanders frequently compel children to kill their own siblings, lest family bonds supersede those to the LRA. Leaders demand every abducted child kill another child within a week of capture. Afterward, theyre told theyll never be accepted by society because of their criminal acts, so they must stay with the LRA to survive. They coerce the children into identifying with their captors by emotionally blackmailing them with their own guilt.

The physical and sexual torture of children is a deliberate process intended to create killers without conscience. Tragically, it works. Most current LRA commanders were once abducted boys who, having been through this process, are now committed to Joseph Kony and his bloodthirsty vision.

[u]Children Escaping in the Night[/u]

During my travels through the region, I interviewed several children who escaped captivity. All were acutely anxious, withdrawn, and could hardly speak above a whisper or make eye contact. They were terrified of re-abduction.Mary was abducted at age 12 and remained in captivity for two years. She escaped during a firefight with the Ugandan army. The army treats escapees as victims, not criminals or prisoners of war.

Recovering in a hospital from a gunshot wound to the jaw, she told me, I was shot by a commander for hiding behind a tree during battle. Mary insisted the childrens accounts of captivity are true. We were beaten all the time, sometimes with clubs, sometimes with pangas. I had to beat another girl until she diedthe soldier said he would kill me if I did not make her die. I had to walk for a very long time, carrying heavy things. Once, I was too slow, so they beat me and said they would kill me. I saw them kill others for being too slow. Her badly infected foot was swollen to nearly twice its size.

The LRA takes most abductees to base camps in southern Sudan, where they are indoctrinated in spiritual darkness. Attractive girls may be used as sexual slaves. Men regularly rape them.Plainer girls are, at times, used for what can only be called murder practice. Many boys are frightfully traumatized when forced to rape women captured in ambushes. The children are regularly beaten to harden them for battle, some so savagely that they are disfigured for life. They work 12 hours a day with little food or water. Escapees told of eating leaves to survive.Child soldiers are given rudimentary training with assault rifles to ambush the Ugandan army. Told the Holy Spirit will protect them if they apply holy oil to their bodies with the sign of the cross, they are ordered to walk upright into enemy gunfire. Children killed or wounded deserve their fate for exhibiting fear instead of faith in God.

David, 13, was captured by the LRA when he was 10 and held for about two years. Like other children, having killed others troubles him greatly. I was captured with two women. The LRA gave me a panga and told me to kill one, or they would kill me. I beat her with it when she was on the ground. I kept cutting her and cutting her while she screamed. He began to cry and said, I was always afraid they would kill me.

Despite the risks, most children attempt escape. World Vision operates the Children of War Rehabilitation Center in Gulu that ministers to escaped LRA children, giving them medical treatment, counseling, and the gospel. Desperate parents arrive at the center each morning looking for their missing children. If they do find them, their joy may turn to shock, seeing sons without limbs or daughters holding their own infants.

There are serious obstacles to social readjustment. Nearly all girls who escape the LRA have sexually transmitted diseases. They are all suspected of being HIV positive and viewed as sexually defiled. Their prospects for marriage are grim.

Joshua Obonu, director of the Kitgum Concerned Womens Association child rehabilitation center, explains: Sex is not spoken about in our culture, and rape is a shameful thing, so they will not talk about it. The children will admit to killing people but not raping or being raped, unless they have many weeks of counseling.Many families are wiped out in LRA attacks. Children who have escaped have nowhere to go. Children who do return to their villages often find the inhabitants unforgiving. Captivity interrupted their education and catching up is difficult. Children who grew up in captivity not only lack the ABCs, but also a basic knowledge of how society can work without constant violence.

Northern Ugandas nightmare is further compounded by the phenomenon of night commuterschildren who are seeking to avoid the LRAs nighttime raids. Every afternoon, thousands of rural children journey alone out of the bush for several miles to sleep on the sidewalks of district towns.

Often girls are sexually abused along the way by boys making the same journey or by drunken men in town. Teenage boys roam the sidewalks in packs, bullying younger children. Children are beaten in the dark every night. But these risks are preferable to being abducted by the LRA. Few children carry any food during their nocturnal sojourn, which can last 16 hours from departure to return, and they are still vulnerable to LRA attack in transit.

In Kitgum, I witnessed several small children caring for toddlers in these conditions. After a restless night of defending themselves and a three-hour hike back to their villages, some of these children manage to attend village schools.Slowly, more is being done to protect night commuters. Christian ministries are taking up the challenge. Wes Bentley, director of Far Reaching Ministries, which operates the Maranatha Childrens Center 15 miles outside Kitgum, estimates up to 3,000 children per night come to the center.

The sanctuary right now is just a place for kids to sleep safely at night. I suspect, including women and other people who need safety for the night, there might be 7,000 people inside. The center is a fortified compound encircled by fences topped with razor wire and protected by armed guards.

[u]Political Solution Remote[/u]

The LRA rebellion has become a political quagmire. Although the LRA claims to be fighting for Acholi independence, it has no political platform or clear objectives upon which to base negotiations for peace.

Nevertheless, the Ugandan government and concerned intermediaries continue to attempt negotiations. The efforts of one woman in particular are heroic. Betty Bigombe, 51, a former Ugandan government minister who is also Acholi, has met with LRA leaders several times at great personal risk, trying to negotiate a settlement to end the fighting.

Currently a consultant for the World Bank, she has taken unpaid leaves and spent a small fortune in savings to help both parties navigate a peace process in one of todays most intractable conflicts. In an effort to save children by ending the conflict in any way possible, the Ugandan government passed an Amnesty Act in 1999, which shields from prosecution any LRA fighter who surrenders to the government. The act also offers surrendered fighters $150 in starting over money. Terms of the act extend to Kony and his top commanders. Experts agree that LRA leaders recent discussions with Bigombe about ending the conflict were a huge step forward.

However, when the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Kony and his top four commanders on October 13, attempts to mediate the conflict broke down.

Ruth Kahurananga, World Visions child protection officer with the United Nations, paused cautiously when asked about the indictments. We are not against the ICC; however, the timing is crucial. We feel that the talks Betty Bigombe had started with some of the commanders in the LRA were enabling some kind of political negotiation to happen. By the ICC indicting five of the top LRA commanders, World Vision is very concerned, because that is possibly not a guarantee to the end of the conflict.

In reality, there is evidence that the fighting has become more savage.

Even looking at the history of the LRA, we have seen that especially when they think they are being weakened, they retaliate with a lot of violence, a lot of abductions, a lot of maiming, Kahurananga explained.

It is not just Kony and his lieutenants who are in jeopardy from the indictments. We are also very concerned that those called as witnesses in future trials, especially children, are protected, Kahurananga said. That theyre given immunity from prosecution, and that they and their families are protected from retaliation.

Wes Bentley confirmed that the LRAs attacks are increasing and becoming more savage. Theyve really stepped up their attacks in the last six months, he said. Our center was attacked while we were building it. There have been a lot more killings and mutilations. We couldnt get it up fast enough, so many people were seeking protection at night.

Even while LRA terrorism directed against children has intensified, the U.S. government has not made the conflict a high priority. Many believe that without U.S. involvement, the abductions, killing, and maiming will continue.

In August 2004, the U.S. government enacted the Northern Uganda Crisis Response Act, which essentially calls LRA terrorism a great tragedy, offers limited support for a negotiated solution, and warns Sudan not to support the LRA.

Several congressmen visited northern Uganda to witness the devastation firsthand, but they were frustrated to see no end in sight. Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., said, I will remain committed to stopping the horror that has stolen the innocence of so many Ugandan children.

The Bush administration has placed the LRA on tier two of its Terrorist Exclusion List, which means the LRA is judged not to be a threat to U.S. interests. There are a lot of sympathetic [members of Congress], but no significant leadership to move the issue to the point where there are congressional hearings, and hearings are one of the first important steps to focus administration and congressional attention on the severity of the issue, said Rory Anderson, senior Africa policy adviser for World Vision. Hearings will not happen unless people contact their members of Congress and demand it.

The people most familiar with LRA terrorism agree that the best hope for ending the carnage is putting it on the radar screen of the Western world.

Akello Lwanga, a physician, spent two years treating LRA victims at an internally displaced persons camp in Pader. If Americans saw this on TV as often as they see the Middle East, he said, it would stop.

People need to see whats happening in northern Uganda, said U.S. ambassador to Uganda Jimmy Kolker. The suffering of these children is unimaginable. Absolutely, it is important for the public to know about this as a step toward bringing it to an end.

Ordinary Christians can help stop LRA terrorism. Presenting the issue to churches, continuing in intercessory prayer over the conflict, donating to Christian agencies that work with Ugandan children, and pressing government officials for action all work to save LRA victims.

Michael Oruni, director of Ugandas Children of War Rehabilitation Center, told CT he was urging Christians to get involved: Imagine your own child taken away, being raped as your family is killed in front of your eyes. If it were you, what would you feel like?

Kids in Ugandakids just like yoursare taken every night and enslaved, raped, mutilated, murdered. You can make a difference. Talk to your government. Help us.

This is a horrible "war" that is being staged in the spiritual realm. The horror that Uganda, especially Northern Uganda, is facing needs to be exposed, and Christians throughout the world need to share the burden of intercession with the church of Uganda.

A video put out in November 2005 by The Sentinel Group, called "An Unconventional War," shows the effects this "war" has had on Uganda, and the way that Christians in Uganda have dedicated themselves to being used by God for redemption of these children and soldiers. It not only is true to how devastating the war has been, but it reveals that God can and does give us the grace to love our enemies and that there really is power in forgiveness.

I encourage anyone with a burden to join the spiritual battle for Uganda to watch this video.

Hearings will not happen unless people contact their members of Congress and demand it.

I need to find out the proper way to do this and do it. It is the very least I can do.

The scripture says in the ESV

Quote:

Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute.

Quote:

Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.

Some time back I had a dream one night. In the dream I was in an army and at some point we were betrayed into the hands of the enemy by our own soldiers. It was a terrible feeling, and even more so as I was going to be put in prison. I remember feeling as though I did not want go through this and wanted to escape.

When I woke up I went to prayer. I tell you, it was not hard to pray [i]at that moment [/i] for the brethren in chains.

Juney, thank you also for the encouragement and information you shared.

I decided to paste a copy of the e-mail I sent as maybe it will help others if they decide to send one. Perhaps you will see something I phrased wrong that you would want to avoid or something else that is helpfull.

Quote:

I have recently been made aware of a shocking situation in Uganda. Horrible crimes are being committed against children and by children which should demand the awakening of our conscience and the opening of our hearts in earnest to the savage conditions that now exist. It is claimed that thousands of Ugandan children have been kidnapped and otherwise forced to fight in what is called 'The Lord's Resistance Army" which is being led by a man named Joseph Kony. Not only are they forced to fight in this army, but it is also claimed they are being forced to commit such acts of brutality as rape and murder and also various acts of mutilation upon other children and even members of their own family. I sincerely hope that by bringing this issue to your attention, you may, because of your most honorable and special position in our society and this blessed Nation, be able in some way to direct the vast powers of influence and wealth of this great Nation towards the ending of this crisis, as would I think be fitting of a moral and privileged people, and, if I may also humbly suggest, would also be right in the eyes of God our Maker.

An article that appeared in the January 2006 edition of Christianity Today titled "Deliver Us from Kony, Why the children of Uganda are killing one another in the name of the Lord" authored by J. Carter Johnson, describes what is taking place more fully. I wish to respectfully leave you with this quote from the article, by Michael Oruni, director of Uganda's Children of War Rehabilitation Center

"Kids in Ugandakids just like yoursare taken every night and enslaved, raped, mutilated, murdered. You can make a difference. Talk to your government. Help us."

I heard that the situation in Uganda was talked about on the Oprah Winfrey show recently and found a story about in at their website. The story also talked about three college students that went there(Uganda) and put together a documentary about it called Invisible Children.

So, maybe this will be an good time to write our representatives again and plead the cause of these oppressed and fatherless?

Following recent comments from Lords Resistance Army rebel leader Joseph Kony in which he denied committing atrocities, Ugandan Ochola John, 25, responds by telling his story. He was abducted by rebels from his village, Namkora in northern Uganda, which was attacked in February 2002. During the attack 50 people were axed to death and he was one of 35 abductees.

I wish I could be born again. It hurts me to see my reflection because of the way I now look. The memories of it all are so painful. It was in the night when I saw a number of torches flash at me. I was commanded to lie down facing the ground. As I did so, the rebels began raiding other houses around me. They arrested many - tying, and lying the victims on the ground in three lines. People were screaming from all corners of our village.

Two men were tied and forced onto the ground where their heads were joined together. The rebels tried to force me to pick up a log and hit their heads but I refused so one came for me with a knife and cut off my left ear. He accused me of being a government soldier and said that I would be finished off if I failed to smash their heads. But then, they started smashing the peoples heads themselves. I was put in the middle as they smashed the peoples heads.

Abducted At about 0700 in the morning, they led 35 of us into the bush. About five kms (approximately three miles) from the scene they began taunting me, saying that I was big-headed, and because I refused to respect them I would be cooked alive. They kept on beating us and they denied food or water from us. We complained saying we were hungry and thirsty. They stopped raping the women that were in our group and acted as though they were going to let us eat and drink. The ladies were forced to boil water in a big tin.

Shortly after this they announced that we would eat the government soldier - supposedly, me. For a long time, the rebels took turns at beating us men with hot metal, and raping the girls. I was already spiritually dead. They returned to me at some point and re-tied me before chopping off my lips. They then cut off my right ear and my nose. Some time later their commander Joseph Kony phoned, telling them to leave the place immediately. We were then relocated about 15km further into the bush.

Bad omen I was bleeding. I could not cry anymore and for two days I couldnt drink water. The rebels debated for two days whether or not I was to be killed. They told me I was a bad omen and so must suffer. My wounds had begun to rot. The smell was so bad. But still they refused me any treatment. Then on the seventh day, because I never expected to live, I insulted their commander in the hope that in revenge he would kill me. He just ordered his soldiers to cut off my hands. They did. That evening I remember seeing my fellow female abductees crying. One of them had been killed and another had had her breast cut off. I dont know how but by what I think was the eleventh day of being abducted I was still living.

Helpless The rebels kept telling me that I would soon be dead. They picked out two of the starving, tired girls that could hardly even walk from being repeatedly raped and ordered them to take me home. The three of us were helpless. The girls were crying, inconsolably, when some government soldiers found us following a further night spent out in the open. They took us straight to the nearest hospital where we received treatment. On reaching hospital, my wife came to see me with my parents, relatives and friends. They found it hard to see me as a human being. I was rotting, smelly and deformed.

Time My wife could not find words to speak to me. She just felt very sick. My thoughts were filled with bitterness. I hated life and wished that I had just been killed. All I wanted was to commit suicide and die. My wife started taking care of me in the hospital. I had asked her to leave me alone, explaining that because I was deformed, I couldnt be her husband anymore. She refused. Over and over she rejected my request, saying that the baby she was carrying for us, the child we were expecting, needed a father.

She kept saying that I hadnt asked to be deformed like that and someday God would let me know why I had been put through such an ordeal. My wife, Grace, with time helped to suppress my terrible feelings and thoughts. When our baby boy was born, I named him Anywar, which in our Luo language means an insult or an abuse. I named him so because of what the Lords Resistance Army leader, Joseph Kony, did to me. I try, but I cannot forgive, and I cannot forget. ______________

A heart, a burning heart, is really needed to be able to pray into this situation.Pray for many hearts of this particular kind.Lars W.

Uganda: Abducted Children in Northern Uganda Go MissingHenry M. Lule

The whereabouts of over ten thousand children who were abducted by the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) rebels led by Joseph Kony in Northern Uganda are unknown to this date.

According to the latest report by the Uganda Parliamentary Forum for Children (UPFC), chaired by MP Ruth Tuma, out of over 27000 children who were abducted by rebels, the army has been able to rescue only 17000 and the remaining 10000 remain an accounted for.

The report launched at Entebbe Botanical Beach Hotel on Saturday, September 30, follows a mission by the Forum MPs to Northern Uganda to assess the situation of the children in the region.

The report reads in part. The mission found out that out of the over 27000 children who have been abducted by the rebels, over 10000 children are still unaccounted for. However, according to what we hear in the press, we see that Kony is now left with only hundreds of fighters mainly formed by these abducted children. Now we ask where are the other children? Have they been killed in the battle or died of starvation or have been sold as slaves. Will they ever be accounted for? Where are the mechanisms to track their whereabouts?In the same vein, the report says that the internally displaced persons (IDPs) have now developed a belief that the spirits are the ones that cause the fires in the camps, and that they always demand for a brown girl to stop.When the mission was in Anaka IDP camp, a fire broke out. We tried to stop it, but the population stopped us. This was because of the belief they hold that evil spirits who need appeasement by sacrificing a brown girl child. As a result, the fires destroyed 68 huts. The report reads.

The report also said that the children in IDPs lack enough food, shelter, in addition to having limited access to education and health care. Speaking to journalists at the launch of the report, Tuma said that the major child rights abuse they discovered in the region was sexual abuse. She said that the girl children who were in rebel camps were abused by six men a night.It was a very terrible testimony we got from some girls there. They said they were forced to sleep with six men a night and moreover some of them (men) were very old! The children were also forced to drink blood, dirty water and eat grass for survival! she said.

She urged government to set up psycho-social centres in the region to assist rehabilitate these children who have been traumatised. She also asked parliament to form a select committee on children to specifically deal with children affairs and also come up with relevant ideas to government to take action.

The Speaker of Parliament Kiwanuka Sekandi, urged members to come out and deal with matters affecting the children, saying there is a current outbreak of capital cases like sacrifice, sexual abuse, defilement among others against children in the country.

The report comes at a time when the government of Uganda is currently involved in peace talks with the LRA rebels in Juba. The talks are being mediated by the leadership of Southern Sudan. The LRA leaders including Kony himself have been indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity.